April 25 -- FLASH BACK

PITTSBURGH -- Good afternoon, and TGIF, from the Steel City.

Scott Lauber here (not to be confused with Buddy Hurlock, who has been chiming in periodically in this space with his thoughts on the Blue Rocks). Left Milwaukee in a rain storm before the sun came up, and tried to file a post from Gate C30 at bustling O'Hare International in Chicago while I waited for my connecting flight. But the folks at Blogger.com were having some, well, issues that foiled my plan. Better late than never, though, I wanted to go over a few things before we walk across the Roberto Clemente Bridge to beautiful PNC Park, one of my favorite National League ballparks, for a 7:05 Phillies-Pirates series-opener. So, without further ado ...

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Pat Burrell got another big hit -- a game-winning hit, in fact -- yesterday at Miller Park, but that's nothing new. Burrell is having a phenomenal April (it's not too soon, by the way, to start thinking about the possibility that he could play in his first career All-Star Game). But it feels like every game story I've written in the past two weeks has been focused on Burrell and/or Chase Utley (a.k.a., the Dynamic Duo), so I went another way in today's paper and wrote about Tom Gordon.

"Flash," as he's universally known, bailed Jamie Moyer out of a two-on, none-out jam in the seventh inning yesterday. And, very quietly, he has posted a 2.16 ERA in eight outings since that horrendous opening-day performance. Plenty of folks, including yours truly, wondered after that game if Gordon, at age 40, was finally finished. Gordon, himself, admitted yesterday that his opening-day meltdown was tough to get over.

Clearly, though, he's over it. And, just as clearly, he has plenty of bullets left in his right arm. Gordon said yesterday that his curveball (his signature pitch for two decades) felt good in spring training. His success has stemmed from being able to throw his fastball for strikes. And although he fanned Tony Gwynn Jr. on three straight curveballs yesterday, his ability to command his fastball was the key to his success.

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Ryan Howard won't play again tonight, Charlie Manuel said. Howard's "mental health day" yesterday wasn't quite as productive as Manuel had hoped. Howard pinch-hit in the eighth inning and struck out. He stayed in the game and struck out again in the ninth. So much for a slump-buster. If you've lost track, Howard is now 3-for-28 with 11 strikeouts (and 6-for-41 with 17 Ks).

I asked this question of y'all last weekend, and I'll ask again today: As amateur hitting coaches, how would you go about trying to get Howard out of his funk?

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Here's a preview of this weekend's series:

PHILLIES at PIRATES
Tonight, 7:05: RHP Adam Eaton (0-0, 4.74) vs. LHP Zach Duke (0-1, 4.37)
Saturday, 7:05: RHP Kyle Kendrick (1-2, 5.59) vs. RHP Matt Morris (0-3, 9.15)
Sunday, 1:35: RHP Brett Myers (2-1, 4.78) vs. LHP Paul Maholm (1-2, 4.22)
Hot: Phillies 2B Chase Utley had three more hits Thursday and is 17-for-33 (.515) over the past eight games; Phillies CF Jayson Werth has hit three home runs in his last four games; Pirates CF Nate McLouth opened the season with a 19-game hitting streak before going 0-for-4 Wednesday; Pirates RF Xavier Nady was batting .385 (15-for-39) over a 10-game hitting streak entering Thursday night's game.
Not: Phillies RF Geoff Jenkins is hitless in his last eight at-bats; Phillies C Carlos Ruiz has two hits in his last 15 at-bats; Pirates 1B Adam LaRoche had two hits in his last 21 at-bats and one home run in 63 at-bats overall entering Thursday night.

Back in a few hours with lineups and other news. For now, I need a nap!